Electrostatic dust precipitator



June 22,1948. R, PEGG ELECTROSTATIC DUST-PRECIPITATOR Filed Dec 29, 1945 INVENTO-R BY M ATTORNEY Edward 171?. Peyy.

WITNESSES:

Patented June 22 1948 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ELECTROSTATIC DUST PRECIPITATOR Edward H. R. Pegg, Crantord, N. J., assignor to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application December 29, 1945, Serial No. 638,356

2 Claims.

A further object of my invention is to provide' a small compact electrical dust-precipitator for removing dust-particles from a flowing gas by' first charging gas-borne dust-particles and then removing charged dust-particles from the gas stream. To this end, an upstream dust-charging means and a downstream dust-precipitating means are provided; the former consisting of iongitudinal tubular members having axial ionizing wires, and the latter consisting of closely spaced alternatively relatively insulated and uninsulated plate-electrodes. In a form of my invention, the electrical dust-precipitator consists of two sections, in side-byside relation. The dust-charg-' ing means is in the first of the sections and the dust-precipitating means in the second. Both can be slidably fitted into the sections.

Another object of my invention is to provide an ionizing means of a type utilizable in gascleaning, which can be readily constructed as a complete unit for sliding into an existing gasduct of small cross-sectional area.

Objects, features, combinations and innovations of my invention, in additionto the foregoing, will be discernible or obtainable from the following more detailed description and accompanying drawing. In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view, partly other apparatus. Air or other gas is caused to flow through the gas-conduit in the directions of the arrows A at the left of Fi 1. The gas flows longitudinally through the gas-conduit, by longitudinally meaning axially along a tubular member or in the direction of gas flow. The gas passes through a dust-chargingmeans, indicated in its entirety by the reference numeral 6, and then through a. dust-precipitatinug means, indicated in its entirety by the reference numeral I.

The dust-charging means 8 and the dust-precipitating means 8 are so constructed as to be slidable into the gas-conduit 2, being retained by a friction fit, but obviously securing means may be provided. If desired, a spacing bar il may be inserted between thedust=charging means and the dust-precipitating means for maintaining them a predetermined distance apart for adequate insulation between the high potential parts of either with respect to the grounded parts of the other.

' The end-plate is of polygonal shape to correspond Fig. 3 is a broadside view of an end-plate I utilized in the foregoing form of my invention; and

Fig. 4 is a sectional view, with parts broken away, of a modified form of electrical dust-precipitator in accordance with my invention.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, a gas-conduit 2 is provided which, in this particular instance, consists of a single pipe or tube member which is square in cross-section and provided with end flanges for association with other parts of an air-conditioning means, if desired, or

to the inside of the gas-conduit I, which in this case is square. The end-plate has turned flanges l6 along each of its sides adapted to abut the gasconduit. A small hole i8 is provided at the center of the end-plate and spaced about this hole are four circular openings 20; the centers of which lie on the corners of a square nested within the periphery of the end-plate.

The end-plates i2 and it are arranged with their, flanges I8 directed toward each other and a tie-rod 22 is provided between them, having shoulders 24 at opposite ends for abuttingly re-'- ceiving the end-plates. The outwardly extending parts 26 of the tie-rod are threaded to receive outwardly extending insulators 28 and 3|. The insulator 28 clamps the end-plate l2 between it and a shoulder 24; and the insulator 30 clamps the end-plate it between it and the opposite shoulder 24. If the tie-rod is too thin, washers may obviously be provided between the end-plate and shoulders for increasing the clamping area.

The tie-rod 22 keeps the end-plates in parallel openings 20 are longitudinally aligned. Disposed in each pair of aligned openings is a round tube 32 extending from one end-plate to the other. The tubes may be gas-tightly secured in the openings in any suitable manner, as for example, by sealing, welding or by sliding fit.

An armed member 34 is screwed to the outer insulated ends of each of the insulators 28 and 30 by means of screws 38 threaded into matin holes 01. the insulators. Each armed member 34 consists of a central portion from which a plurality of arms 38 project radially. These arms are thin so as not to cause too serious a disturbance in the flow of gas through the apparatus. The arms terminate at points longitudinally substantially in line with the axes of the tubular members 32 so that ionizing wires 38, which pass axially through the tubular members 32, may be anchored to the ends of longitudinally aligned arms 38. A clip or terminal 40 is provided on one of the arms 36 for receiving an insulated conductor for applying a high potential to the ionizing wires with respect to the tubular members 32.

The openings 20 and tubes 32 are laterally spaced apart in the embodiment shown, so as to provide sutficient metal centrally of the endplates for receiving the insulators 28 and 20 without blocking 011 any significant part of the lateral area of the tubular members through which the gas flows. The end-plates are otherwise solid or gas-tight so that the gas is directed into the tubular members 32.

The dust-precipitating means 8 consists of any suitable spaced plate structure, but I prefer a construction along the lines of that shown in the Penney Patent No. 2,347,709, dated May 2, 1944, which discloses a precipitating unit adapted to slide into a gas-conduit. Preferably, it consists oia plurality of larger grounded plates 42 be-- tween which are disposed smaller insulated plates 44. A plurality of small interlocked insulating spacers 46 are provided between the plateelectrodes, and any suitable clamping means holds the assembly together.

Fig. 4 shows a unit of my invention in which the main gas-conduit consists of a plurality of sections 50. 52 and 54, formed by a full width partition 56 which terminates short of a removable bottom 58 so as to provide a path in which gas flows downwardly through the section 50, turns in the section 52, and flows upwardly through the section 54. The dust-charging means 6 is located in the section 50 and the dustprecipitating means 8 in the section 54.

While I have described my invention in pre- Ierred forms, it is obvious that it is subject to wide modification. For example, the contour of tubular electrodes and corresponding openings may be of any desired shape and need not necessarily be rectangular or circular.

I claim as my invention:

1. A unitary structure of a type described comprising a pair of spaced end-plates having openings encompassed by the peripheries of the end-plates, parallel tubular members secured in said openings, a tie-rod between said tubular members parallel thereto, said tie-rod extending outwardly through said end-plates, said tie-rod having shoulders, insulators secured to the extended parts of said tie rod, and clamping said end-plates between the insulators and said shoulders, arm members'secured to outer ends of said insulators, and ionizing wires passing centrally through said tubular members, secured to said arm members.

2. An electrical dust-precipitator comprising, gas-conduit means providing a gas-flow path, having a pair of open-ended sections in juxtaposed reiation and a common compartment spanning said sections, said gas-conduit means having a gas-inlet at an end of a first of said sections and a gas-outlet at the adjacent end of the second section, the other ends of said sections opening into said common compartment, said gasconduit means comprising a removable outer closure means defining a wall of said compartment, a manually readily removable ionizing unit slidable into andv out of said first section, and a manually readily removable dust-precipitating unit slidable into and out of said second section, each of said units being slidable into and out of the associated section through an opening covcred by said removable closure means.

EDWARD H. R. PEGG.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,343,285 Schmidt June 15, 1920 1,393,712 Steere Oct. 11, 1921 1,440,887 Nesbit Jan. 2, 1923 1,982,470 Franks Nov. 27, 1934 2,192,250 White Mar. 5, 1940 2,336,625 Melton Dec. 14, 1943 'FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 352,901 Germany July 18, 1920 

